Michael J. Wytrwal

Michael J. Wytrwal (born September 12, 1882 in Poland) was one of the successful businessmen and entrepreneurs of the early 1900s in Amsterdam, New York. He was actively engaged in managing a diversified portfolio of business interests that serve as the precursor to today's conglomerate. These interests include real estate, pharmaceuticals, furniture, timber holdings, insurance, contracting, consumer goods, banking and financial services, textiles, and energy via the M. J. Wytrwal Coal & Oil Company in upstate New York.

At the age of 14, Wytrwal immigrated to the United States through Ellis Island, and moved to Amsterdam just in time for the initial stellar growth of the booming textile, carpet and rug-making industries, powered by the rushing waters of the Chuctenunda Creek into the Mohawk River. These textile mills, run by the Sanfords, Bigelows, Shuttleworths and others, employed thousands of new immigrants, made superior floor covering products, and generated tremendous wealth for their shareholders. They were the building blocks of what is now known as Mohawk Industries of Calhoun, Georgia. This wealth generation and concentration in a small city of upstate New York resulted in the Fulton-Montgomery County region having the largest number of millionaires on a per capita basis in the US during the early 1900s.

Wytrwal was one of the founding members and initial investors in forming the Amsterdam Federal Savings and Loan Association, a privately owned bank also known as the “Polish Bank” on Church Street. Many years later, the bank conducted an initial public offering and went public under the ticker symbol AFED, (Amsterdam Federal Savings) on October 1, 1996. AFED later merged with Amsterdam Savings Bank to form Mohawk Community Bank, which was later acquired by Hudson River Bank & Trust, and is now part of First Niagara Financial Group, a US$21 billion bank based in Buffalo, New York.

He was widely recognized as one of the leading and prosperous merchants of Amsterdam and enjoyed and “unassailable reputation for integrity and reliability”.

Wytrwal was actively in engaged in federal, state and local politics and assisted President Franklin D. Roosevelt in implementing various economic relief programs during the Great Depression of the 1930s and was known as the “Polish Mayor” of Amsterdam.

Early life

Wytrwal was born on September 12, 1882 in Krakow, Poland, and attended public schools there through the age of 14. In 1896, he sought out adventure and opportunity, immigrated to the US through Liberty Island, initially settling in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He stayed there for six months and then moved north to Amsterdam, New York.

Family and personal life

Wytrwal was married twice – first to Ms. Mamie Brudzdowski on October 26, 1904, who passed away on February 26, 1906. He was re-married on May 24, 1907 to Ms. Josephine Bruzdowski. He had a total of 7 children – one son from his first marriage, and another son and five daughters in his second marriage.

Wytrwal passed away on January 21, 1970 at the age of 81. He is survived by numerous children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great, great-grandchildren.

Notable descendents of Michael Wytrwal include Ms. Mary Anne Krupsak, an attorney, entrepreneur, and the former Lieutenant Governor of New York during the 1970s who was one of the leading pioneers of women’s rights, and Colonel Edmund Luzine, Afghan and Iraq veteran, professor and pioneer global emerging markets investor.

Wytrwal International, LLC – a family office run by a few of his descendents, manages the investments of some of his wealth.

References

History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West. 1614 -1925. Page 565. Edited by Nelson Green and published by The SJ Clarke Publishing Company of Chicago in 1925. http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/resources/mvgw/

Wytrwal International, LLC family office corporate archives

Parading to Fight the Depression, by Bob Cudmore, Schenectday Daily Gazette, March 8, 2008. http://cms.dailygazette.com/weblogs/bcudmore/2008/mar/08/parading-to-fight-the-depression/

“AFASLA debuts on Nasdaq after successful first offering”, by Barbara Pinckney of The Capital District Business Review, October 7, 1996 http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/1996/10/07/story8.html

First Niagara Financial Group website, www.fnfg.com

Persondata
Name	Wytrwal, Michael J.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 12, 1882
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death